Category: Transfers & Contracts

In an increasingly guard driven league, it is important to remember that an overseas power forward or center is absolutely critical to a CBA team. A good big man tends to solve many problems overnight and a middling franchise can often upgrade its front court with just one phone call to the right player.

Never doubt the power of money, folks. The Xinjiang Tigers, barely five months after an embarrassing failure to make the CBA play-offs, have loaded up once again for a roster that looks– on paper at least– to be close to unstoppable. This is of course the Xinjiang way; win the offseason and come into the subsequent CBA campaign with everyone talking about them. Its happened many times before but this time, its especially galling. Not only have they added Li Gen, one of China’s best shooters, the Tigers have also hired Liu Quiping to act as the coach for the forthcoming campaign. Continue reading “Xinjiang Add Li Gen and Liu Qiuping; Once Again Look To Buy Title”→

He may not be a known name in Chinese basketball but He Tianju may about to become a very unlikely NBA player. News broke on Monday that the streaky Liaoning forward has been offered a try-out with the New Orleans Hornets and Chinese media duly reacted with barely constrained amazement. Continue reading “Wait, Is He Tienju Going To The NBA?”→

With speculation mounting about his free agency status, Yi Jianlian was forced to release a statement last Monday. In it, the captain of the Chinese national team confirmed that he had not re-signed with the Guangdong Tigers despite his looming free agency but that talks were set to begin soon.

The oft used quote that those who don’t learn from their history are only doomed to repeat it seems particularly apt in Xinjiang right now. The Tigers, forever looking to win their first ever CBA title, once again broke out the checkbook early on in the year to build up star-studded line-up. Liu Wei, Cao Fei, Zhou Qi, Jordan Crawford and Andray Blatche all arrived at the start of the year and yet the team is 9-4 when they were expecting to be 13-0. The reality is that in the industrial city of Urumqi, it is title or bust and their constantly anxious fan base is now once again calling for something to be done to get the team back on track. Continue reading “Heads Look Set To Roll At Panicking Xinjiang”→

So with seven games of the season played, the Shanghai Sharks announced that they have cut Delonte West due to various injury issues. The former Fujian player, who had averaged 26.2 points, 5.6 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 2.4 steals in 2013, had struggled since moving to the Yuanshen. In five appearances, he was going for a disappointing 10 points and 1.2 assists a game before the axe fell yesterday. The Sharks, who are at 1-6 for the season and very much a team in rebuild mode, probably won’t care too much given that it will mean more minutes for twenty-four year old Ge Yang to develop.